Editor’s note: Today, Sporting News continues its look at five programs that have a lot of work to do in the next five months leading up to national signing day in February. Yesterday we looked at Oregon State, and today it’s Kansas—No. 4 in our countdown.

As the uncommitted recruits come off the board and more classes grow to 20 commitments or more, the programs with single-digit pledges fall farther behind and will be faced with tough battles for remaining prospects over the final months toward national signing day.

When he took the job at Kansas, Charlie Weis knew he was stepping into a tough situation. He immediately brought in talented transfer quarterbacks (Dayne Crist from Notre Dame and Jake Heaps from BYU), and now he’s attempting to build up the 2013 recruiting class—but it’s been a slow process compared to some of the other programs. The Jayhawks only have seven commitments—less than one third of some programs—and one half of what most BCS teams have.

But don’t worry about the numbers yet—that’s the message four of Kansas’ seven recruits have for Jayhawks’ fans.

“It doesn’t bother me at all that we have less than 10 recruits, because I know a lot of athletes overlook KU right now because of the past two years,” QB Montell Cozartof Roeland Park, Kan., told Sporting News about the 2-10 finish last year and 3-9 record in 2010. “The coaches haven’t said much, but I know all of the guys they’ve offered that they wanted to commit already have committed to the University of Kansas. What I like about the guys committed now is they all want to be a part of something special. They want to be a part of that class that turns KU back around.”

Cozart is one of two quarterbacks committed to Kansas for 2013.

Kellen Ash, a linebacker out of Ballwin (Mo.), agreed with his future teammate.

“I think more recruits will commit,” Ash told Sporting News. “We are looking for players who will make an immediate impact … that special skill we need. With the guys who are committed, I think they are valued assets in their role. And I think we all saw something in Coach Weis and (former NFL head coach) Coach (Dave) Campo that we were willing to join the program. They come from a good background and we believe they will be able to lead us.”

One example of what Ash was talking about is fellow recruit Colin Spencer, whose reputation blew up this summer at Nike’s The Opening camp in Oregon. The Dallas cornerback actually won the SPARQ combine competition, coming out of nowhere as a three-star—in some service rankings even a two-star recruit. His only BCS offer is from Kansas, but he stood out against the nation’s five-star recruits, and the coaching staff at Kansas saw something special in him from the beginning.

“I think Kansas is going to have an all right year, I’m expecting five to seven wins this year to start off,” Spencer told Sporting News. “But even if it doesn’t go too well at first, they’re definitely on the rise and I’d like to be a part of that underdog team that gets back up to the top. I tell people I’m going to Kansas, and I’m proud of that.”

Like Ash, Spencer credits Weis and Campo as being the ones who will bring the program back to prominence, thus the reason he believes the class will size up just fine in the next five months.

“This is not a sprint, it’s a marathon,” offensive lineman Joey Bloomfield of Louisville told Sporting News. “I know Coach Weis will do an amazing job with recruiting our class. Having less than 10 does not worry me one bit. There’s a lot of time left in this class.”